PRESS BRIEFING BY AMY QUANTRILL, DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT VOLKAN BOZKIR

United Nations Headquarters, New York

14 June 2021

 

HIGH-LEVEL DIALOGUE ON DESERTIFICATION, LAND DEGRADTAION AND DROUGHT

  • Today, the President of the General Assembly convened a High-level Dialogue on Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought, with the support of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), in accordance with General Assembly resolutions 74/220 and 75/218.
  • In his opening statement the President said: “Restoring nature is the test of our generation and indeed of this multilateral institution. This is the challenge the UN was born to meet. If we upscale land action today we can safeguard global food and water security, reduce emissions, conserve biodiversity and guard against future systemic health and environmental risks. Put simply, soil is the solution.”
  • The President was joined in the opening segment by: The President of ECOSOC, the Deputy Secretary-General, the Prime Minister of India and UNCCD COP14 President and Undersecretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. The high-level segment was followed by a presentation by Sir Robert Watson, Director of Strategic Development for the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, the University of East Anglia.
  • This will be followed by two panels, firstly on Achieving Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) to Accelerate COVID-19 Recoveries and the Decade of Action and secondly, Urgent Global Cooperation on Land to Deliver the Future We Want. There will also be high-level plenaries throughout the day.

 

MEETING WITH THE SPECIAL ENVOY OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL ON MYANMAR

  • The President will meet with the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar this afternoon. They are expected to discuss the Special Envoy’s regional travel and the President’s trip to Cox’s Bazaar.
  • When asked about a readout of the meeting, the Deputy Spokesperson advised to follow the President’s social media account for updates and said she would brief on the meeting tomorrow.